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A cat named Tara has become a viral sensation after shocking video emerged of the animal saving a four-year-old boy from a dog attack.

Little Jeremy can be seen on CCTV playing innocently on his bicycle when a camera from another angle spots the dog heading towards him.

The dog - which belongs to a neighbour - looks under the car at the boy then wanders round, launching its attack in Southwest Bakersfield, California.

It grabs the boy's leg, pulling him to the ground, and shaking him vigorously before the cat leaps into action.

Tara bravely jumps at the dog, startling it, his mother Erica Triantafilo, who was watering trees nearby, then pulls him to safety.

But Tara isn’t the first animal to be hailed as a hero for saving a human life. Here are some other heartwarming examples.

Tusk in time

They say an elephant never forgets and nor will Amber Mason from Milton Keynes after an elephant saved her when a tsunami hit Thailand on Boxing Day 2004.

Amber, then eight years old, on holiday in the Thai resort of Phuket during the disaster. Thankfully she was riding a four year-old elephant named Ningnong on the beach at the precise moment the wave struck and his owner ordered the elephant to run away, carrying Amber to safety.

Mum Sam, who initially feared she had lost Amber in the chaos, said: “If she had been on the beach on her own or with us on the beach, she would never have lived. The elephant took the pounding of the wave.”

I saved my paw

Pete White from Manchester was saved by his neighbour’s cat when he started feline poorly in January this year. At first he could not understand why next door’s moggie Chequers was meowing outside to get in.

Mr White said: “She was howling at me and rubbing against my legs, which is very unusual. She wouldn’t leave me alone, she followed me all over the house howling away at me.”

When he started suffering chest pains he put it down to chest pains, until Chequer’s behaviour made him worry it was something more serious.

And just as the ambulance arrived it his him he went into cardiac arrest. It took an hour to stabilise him and he was rushed to Manchester Royal Infirmary for a heart operation. Mr White was in no doubt he has his “ furry little hero ” was to thank for saving his life.

What a nice kid

Australian dairy farmer Noel Osborne must have thought it was a cruel whey to go when a cow knocked him into a pile of manure and broke his hip in October 2002.

The 78-year-old lay in the open for five days but was kept alive by his goat. Faithful pet Mandy slept beside Mr Osborne at night with his border collie, also named Mandy, on his other side to keep him warm.

Mandy also provided him with milk to help him survive the ordeal.

Mr Osborne said: “That evening the goat came and I was able to get hold of an old bottle and I milked her into the bottle and I was able to have a drink. She slept there beside me every night I was there.”

Mr Osborne was eventually rescued by friends who came to pick up a kid goat and taken to hospital.

Whale meet again

When diver Yang Yun got into deep water she was rescued by an unlikely saviour - Mila the Beluga whale.

Yun, 26, was taking part in a free diving contest in Harbin in north-east China in July 2009 when she was crippled by cramp and began sinking deeper and deeper.

But Mila saw she was in distress, grabbed her leg and pushed her back to the surface.

Yun said: “I began to choke and sank even lower and I thought that was it for me - I was dead. Until I felt this incredible force driving me to the surface.”

Amazed onlookers at the contest even managed to capture the incredible rescue on camera.

Hero: Seventeen-month-old Nell

Dog performs Heimlich manoever

Lesley Hailwood is another dog owner who cheating choking to death thanks to her heroic hound.

When IT worker Lesley began choking on a chocolate the German Shepherd retriever cross sprang into action, jumping onto the sofa and pouncing on her chest.

It acted in the same way as a person doing the Heimlich and dislodged the stuck sweet.

Lesley, from Liverpool, was helping to train Nell for Guide Dogs for the Blind and admits she will find it hard to say goodbye to her when she is assigned to a partially sighted person.

She said: “There’s no doubt in my eyes that Nell saved my life. She was amazing. She’s never jumped up on me like that before. She knew I was in trouble and knew exactly how to wind me.”

Safety tips going cheep

Brian Molineaux, from Chelmsford in Essex, owes his life to his feathered friend Budgie in March 2009.

The night porter collapsed before he could feed 17 year-old Budgie and his pet bird made such a fuss it alerted his wife Shirley, who called for help.

Mr Molineaux was rushed to hospital and treated for a stroke before making a miraculous recovery.

He said: “Budgie wanted feeding and that’s probably why she made such a fuss. Apparently she made a heck of a noise. Part of the reason I’ve made such a good recovery is the fact that I got help so quickly – and that’s thanks to Budgie.”

No monkey business here

Zoo keepers feared the worst when a three-year-old boy get away from his mother and fell 20ft into the ape pit at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois, US, in August 1996.

But what happened next became of the most famous animal hero stories of all time.

As the child lay motionless lowland gorilla Binti Jua, then an eight-year-old mother herself, gently picked him up and cradled him in her arms. She then kept the other gorillas at bay before handed him over to her keepers.

Thanks to her remarkable behaviour the littler boy, who has never been named, made a full recovery.

Zoo worker Jay Peterson said: “She was somewhat protective. She took the child and sort of turned a shoulder to the other gorillas to keep them away.”

(Photo: Julian Hamilton)

Tail with a happy ending

When retired teacher Hilary Lewis fell from her horse, her only hope of rescue was her five-year-old labradoodle Gallant .

The horse had bolted and tried to jump a metal gate. As Hilary lay paralysed, aptly named Gallant went in search of help.

Hilary says: “Gallant circled me crying and pressed his face into mine. When he didn’t get a response he disappeared. I didn’t know where he had gone, but he ran into my neighbour’s kitchen barking.

“They didn’t realise anything was wrong, so he ran to the post van and brought the postman to me.”

Hilary, 65, from Bala in Gwynedd, Wales, was airlifted to Bangor Hospital, with a broken arm and neck. She spent four months undergoing intense physiotherapy to help her walk again.

She returned home in May last year and was reunited with Gallant. She said: “I still get emotional when I think about what he did. People tell me it reminds them of Lassie.”

Flippering lucky

When a Great White Shark grabbed surfer Todd Endris by the leg there should have been no escape. But lucky for Todd a nearby pod of dolphins carried out a rescue mission.

Todd, 24, was resting on his board 75 yards from the shore in Monterey Bay, California, when the shark struck.

The 16ft monster dragged Todd beneath the waves but he managed to battle back to the surface by punching the shark on the snout repeatedly.

As Todd ran out of energy the dolphins leapt over his head and the shark released him. The dolphins then swam round Todd, forming a defensive wall between him and the shark until fellow surfer Joe Jansen was able to rescue him and helped him to the shore where he was treated for horrific wounds but survived.

Todd said: The dolphins saved my life. They drove the shark away. If they hadn’t, there’s no doubt in my mind it would have come back.”

A lick in time

A brutal life of illegal dog fights awaited Gypsie before she was rescued at 15 weeks old. Two years later, the Staffordshire bull terrier repaid the favour by saving her new family from a house fire.

Owner Nicky Hoad, 41, forgot to unplug her running machine before heading to bed and thick black smoke began to fill the room, prompting Gypsie into action.

Nicky said: “All of a sudden Gypsie jumped on my chest and started licking my face. She always slept next to me, but this was different. It was abrupt like she was telling me, ‘I need you to wake up now’.

“The running machine had caught fire. It was the black smoke from the burning rubber that scared me. I can’t get the smell out of my head.”

Nicky, of Romford, Essex, leapt out of bed and threw her quilt over the flames before the smoke spread to the next room, where her 15-year-old daughter Vicky was sleeping.

She says: “I owe everything I have to her, including my life. I’ve had her tattooed on my leg because she’s my hero.”